Mercerizing of cotton



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To all whom it may GOIIJOGTW.

Be it known that l, Aivros Nansen, residing at ltleclstoi1e,West Marten, near Skipton, in the county of York, England, have invented certain new and useliul Tmprm'cments lie-- l ti/ill? to the Merceriying of Uotton, of which the :tollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to the merceriaing ol cotton and has for its object to carry out this operation more efliciently and economically than can be done by any oi the existing processes. in the ordinary WZLYHDQI'COT iaation is carried out on yarns, in haul: and warp form, and also on pieces, and no per- :tect method of incrcerizing cotton in the yarn and cloth has been arrivedat up to the present owing to the fact that the amount of twist which the yarn contains prevents it from becoming :tully impregnated with the allrali, with the result that only the outer surface of the yarn becomes properly mercerized. it has been attempted to mercerize rovings in the form of hanks but the length put into a hank is so short and creates so many knots or pieceings that yarns can only be produced at greatly increased cost and with many defects.

According to this invention in order to overcome these detects the cotton is subjected to the mercerizing process whilst it is in the form of a rope or chain comprising number of slightly twisted slubber or intermediate rovings, laid alongside of one another, and hereinafter referred to as rovings.

These rovings are arranged side by side to form a chain, stretch or sliver, and they are not twisted together upon the axis ol the chain. As many rovings are thus placed together as will enable the chain to have su'lficient strength to withstand the tension required for inercerizing. As each roving remains separate in the chain, the nierceriaing liquid can flow freely between the revings, and can penetrate the material of all of them to an equal extent, which is not possible when the rovings are twisted together. lEach roving contains only su'fiicient twist to enable it to withstand the tension to which it is subjected during the mercerizing and washing process and to enable the caustic soda, or other alkali to penetrate to every fibre and so give a perfect mercerization of all the fibres, so that when the rovings are subsequently spun into yarn, single yarn can be made just as bright as two-told yarn.

Application filed November 7, 19521. serial No. 513,317.

For the purpose of the invention the revings may be taken from a number of bobbins and be converted into a rope, or chain com prising any predetermined number of rovings. One or more of these chains arranged side by side are then passed in a state of ten sion through the caustic soda, or other alkali, and are then subjected to a washing and steaming process which removes all traces of th alkali without resorting to the use of sulphuric acid for effecting the usual souring operation. After the chains have been subjected to the washing and steaming operation, they are subsequently dried and sep-v arated and are then ready for being converted into yarn.

The process may consist in taking the sliver to a slubbing frame and impart ing a sufiicient nun'iber of turns to the slubber roving to prevent the fibres from shrinking in the process of inercerizing, or the roving may be taken from an intermediate frame or a jack frame; the first process however is preferable as it enables finer counts to be spun, whereas the second process is more costly and eliminates one drawing operation with the result that the yarn is less even. As the various machines in a spinning factory are usually arranged in a standardized order or sequence, a left hand twist is advantageously put into the revings so that the slubbing framecan occupy its usual relative position. The bobbins on which the slubbing or intermediate rovings are wound are now taken and put into a chaining machine adapted to hold a sufiicient number of bobbins to form the chain, say for example, 24 to 100 bobbins. The chain may be allowed to coil into a can or be wound on to a cheese or beam, the length of chain being determined by the length that can be got on to the bobbins, or by the length that is most suitable for spinning. The chains are now subjected to the mercerizing process by passing them through caustic soda, which is preferably kept as nearly as possible at a temperature of 40 Fahrenheit. The chains are now subjected to washing process which consists in causing them to pass through boiling water and steam alternately a suiiicient number of times to free them from caustic soda without resorting to the usual souring process. The chains are now subjected to a drying process and after being dried may be again coiled into cans and taken to a machine which separates the rovings in each chain and Winds them on to bobbins. The latter are then taken to a machine which restores the rovings to their nntwistcd condition to enable them to be lraWn in the ordinary way.

By my present invention the rovings are never handled during the Various processes and they come out so clean and soft after being washed a number of times in boiling Water and steam that the subsequent drawing operation can be done with ease. Single inercerized yarns can be made in nearly every count from coarse to very fine, every fibre is inercerized, and a brightness can be obtained without the expensive method of using two fold yarn. Very fine light and bright cloths can be made and by making singl yarn cloths they are much lighter than. the old two fold yarn cloths and effect a great saving in the amount of cotton used. Owing to the fact that the caustic soda penetrates completely through the whole of the fibres the lustre and brightness will always remain however many times the cloth is washed Whereas when the material has been subjected to the mercerization process whilst in the state of yarn or cloth, and particularly cloth, the caustic soda does not penetrate all through the yarn and the inner fibres are not mercerized, consequently when the outer fibres Wear away the cloth loses its lustre.

This objection as also the defects and increased cost which arise through menria.- ing rovings in the form ot han s are on tirely overcome by mercerizing the slubbor this process than by ordinary spinning. An i counts from coarse to fine can be spun out of rovings inercerized in accordance with this invention.

hat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent: in the l nited States is:

A method. of producing niercerizcd yarn. which consists in first arranging a number of royingrs of slightly twisted yarn side by side to form a chain without twisting the rovings together spirally on the axis of the chain and then subjecting the chain of rovings to the rnercerizine operation while under tension.

In testimony whereof l atlix my signature.

AMOS NELS( )N. 

